Rivals
by Greensword101
Summary: Sequel to Shock. Rivalry Week is just around the corner and each member of the team has something on their shoulders.
1. Nighttime Issues

The night sky was twinkling dimly above the city. Cherry blossoms were beginning to bloom, the first petals beginning to blossom as the last dregs of winter melted away. It was a perfect evening in San Fransokyo to end the perfect day.

A small river flowed lazily underneath a small bridge. The wood was a dull brown, weathered by years of rain and wind and time. Over a small hill or two, glowing like a lightbulb, was a large building with clear glass. A young man, somewhere between the ages of 18 to 21, with jet-black hair and of decent build, looked at the building from his spot on the bridge. A baseball cap sat on his head, bearing the symbol of the San Fransokyo Ninjas. He leaned against the wooden railing, relaxed and waiting for someone to join him.

A young teenaged boy moved with a self-assured pace toward the man, joining him on his left. They both shared the same hair color, but the boy's build was skinnier, with the last traces of baby face around his face.

"I know what you're going to say," the boy began in a cocky manner. His voice deepened, as though in imitation, standing upright with his chest huffed up, "I should be proud that I'm finally using my gift."

The young man barely turned his head, smiling through the act. He addressed the boy in a deep voice, "Actually, I was just going to say that your fly was down the entire time."

The boy rolled his eyes, "Oh, ha ha."

He looked down and gasped, zipping his pants up before elbowing the man, who merely chuckled. After a moment, the boy joined in quietly. They stood on the bridge, looking out at the view with content.

"Look," the boy started again, his anger already faded away, "I wouldn't have gotten in if it wasn't for you. So... thanks for not giving up on me."

"Welcome to Nerd School," the older man replied, looking at the boy with a proud smile, "Nerd."

They both laughed now. The boy opened his mouth to continue when he noticed a red glow from where the building before them was. Smoke pillared high into the air and sirens went off. The man followed his gaze and looked in growing horror.

They both ran as fast as they could to the building, their fear rising as they saw the smoke and flames. People were running out, tripping over themselves and coughing.

A woman stopped short of the two, heaving and hacking.

"Are you alright ma'am?" The man asked.

"I'm fine," the woman said between breaths. She pointed to the building with a shaky hand, "But Professor Callaghan's still in there."

The man stared past the woman and started running towards the doors of the building, but the boy pulled him back.

"Tadashi, no!" He cried.

The man stopped and looked back, his face giving way to panic.

"Callaghan's in there. Someone has to help!"

Without a second thought, he pulled away and continued trekking towards the burning building. His hat flew off his head, but the boy ignored it and raced towards his brother.

"TADASHI, COME BACK!" Tadashi turned around and stared with wide eyes as the boy ran towards him.

"Hiro, get aw –!"

The building exploded and flames engulfed them both, but Tadashi felt no pain. It felt like a warm breeze to him. His skin was untouched by the heat, same as his clothing. The boy wasn't as lucky, his body quickly became engulfed in fire. Tadashi watched in horror as the boy screamed in agony, his skin blistering and charring...

**(0-0)**

… Tadashi woke up screaming in wordless grief, his covers beginning to smolder and smoke. His mind was still halfway in-between dreaming and awakening as he reached an arm out, his hand glowing red as flames built up around it, shooting towards where he thought Hiro was burning alive…

Alarms went off overhead and the sprinkler system went off. The sheets and rug became damp while the walls turned slick from the downpour. Tadashi was barely aware as his hand was raised towards where the small fire was. There was the faint smell of smoke that lingered, even after the fire was extinguished.

The smell broke the spell and Tadashi looked down at his hand, still unsure of what was real, before his body shook and he curled up into a ball, feeling his bare skin against the cool water showering down.

The doors burst open and Fred came in, wearing kaiju-print boxers and a plain t-shirt.

"Tadashi?" He stared at where his friend was before barreling over to the bed. He gently shook Tadashi as he trembled, "Dude, you okay?"

Tadashi pulled himself away from his friend and curled up, coughing and sniffling.

"Hey, man, it's okay," Fred inched closer to the bed, placing his hands on Tadashi's shoulders, "You were having a nightmare. It wasn't real."

"It felt real," Tadashi said hoarsely, curling into himself like a hedgehog.

Fred frowned and slowly wrapped his arms around his friend, "I'm here for you, man."

Tadashi suddenly pushed him away. Fred fell off the bed with a _thud!_ but pulled himself back up quickly. Tadashi looked agitated before he realized what he did, now looking apologetic, "Dude, I'm fine. I don't need you to worry."

"Tadashi," Fred started calmly, looking over his friend, "You're naked."

"I'll just get some clothes from the drawer, then," Tadashi got himself out of the bed, acting as if nothing was wrong with him being completely exposed to someone else in the middle of the night.

"Frederick Frederickson, what is going on here?!" His mother came barreling in, Heathcliff, their butler, close behind.

"Nothing, mom," Fred waved his frantic mother away, "Tadashi just had a nightmare."

"Nothing?!" Mrs. Frederickson screeched. Fred felt like groaning in frustration while Tadashi quickly covered himself with a pillow, "The sprinklers went off, for God's sake! How is this nothi - ?"

Her voice faltered as she finally looked at Tadashi, his bed charred from where he was formally sitting and his body sizzling from the water coming down.

"O-oh," Mrs. Frederickson blushed and had the good grace to look away, "I'll let you get changed, then…"

Heathcliff pulled out a remote from the front pocket of his bathrobe and pushed a button. The sprinklers and fire alarm immediately stopped, the heaving flow reduced to a slow drip. Tadashi smiled nervously in a way reminiscing to his brother, Hiro.

"Perhaps Mister Tadashi would like to spend the remainder of the night in Master Frederick's bedroom, madam?" Heathcliff suggested stiffly, though his face creased with worry.

"I... I'm fine," Tadashi tried, but his voice faltered as he looked around the room. His skin was steaming and almost dry.

"It'd be more like a sleepover," Fred's eyes lit up at the thought, "Oh! We could read comic books and play video games or even tell scary sto –"

He caught his mother's glare and stopped talking.

"I would be most upset if you were to become ill from sleeping on a wet bed, sir," Heathcliff added.

Mrs. Frederickson took a deep breath and turned to Heathcliff with a professional stance,

"Would you be a joy, Heathcliff and make the boys some tea? I need to get up early tomorrow for the charity brunch."

"It _is_ tomorrow, madam. Three oh four, to be exact."

Mrs. Frederickson gasped and began pacing, "Oh dear. I'm not going to get enough beauty sleep, which means that I'll need to use more make-up to cover the bags I'll have and..."

"Mom..." Fred tried speaking up.

"...and Binky is going to notice and she'll never let me live it down..."

"Mom..." Fred raised his voice a little, but his mother continued pacing back and forth, ignoring everyone else in the room.

"...the charity brunch won't get the funds because the snobs won't bother looking past my looks –"

"MOM!"

Mrs. Frederickson stopped and looked at Fred incredulously.

"Remember the Bro-tillion?" Fred asked.

Tadashi mouthed _What's a Bro-tillion?_ at Heathcliff. The butler mouthed back _Later_.

The change in Mrs. Frederickson was almost instantaneous. Her face softened and she shook her head in self-disappointment.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, "I know I promised not to care what Binky thought anymore...it's just...it's just so hard sometimes."

She took a deep breath and exhaled, "If either of you need anything, I'll be in my bedroom. Tadashi, I'm going to call my husband in the morning and see if there are any updates on his search. Fred, make sure to get your rest, you have to be at the campus in the morning. And Heathcliff, the tea. Preferably herbal."

"As you wish, madam," Heathcliff nodded and strode out of the guest room. Mrs. Frederickson gave one last look at the two young men and followed the butler out as well.

Tadashi's shoulders slumped, "I'm sorry."

"Nah, don't worry," Fred shrugged, "Mom's always been the self-conscious one –"

"I meant with the room and the…" Tadashi trailed off.

Fred walked over and put a hand on his friend's shoulder, "Dude, this is the third time this week you set off the sprinklers. Are you okay?"

Tadashi shrugged the hand off.

"It's nothing," he replied.

Fred guided him out of the room, his face scrunched with doubt.

"Hey, just 'cause the others don't want you fighting crime with us yet doesn't mean you can't go to them for help. We had to practice in our suits before we…" Fred stopped, realizing he was about to enter awkward territory. He tried again, "I mean, they'd understand."

"Like Go Go did?" Tadashi asked.

Fred stumbled and looked at Tadashi incredulously, "Dude, she said she was sorry."

"I'm not going to dump more stuff on their plates to deal with than I already have," Tadashi said firmly.

"We can talk to them about this. We could try in the morning... er, when the sun's out, I mean," Fred began to feel a little desperate, "I mean, the sooner you learn how to control your powers –"

"I told you, Fred. I can handle it," Tadashi said lightly, "I just need to look for a new angle is all."

Fred had the feeling that his friend wasn't telling him the whole truth. But he knew that if he pressed the issue, Tadashi would eventually get defensive.

"Just don't start another fire," Fred suggested half-jokingly, "At least until I get a bag of marshmallows."

That got a chuckle out of Tadashi. Fred turned around to let his friend get dressed and followed him out of the room.

They made their way into the kitchen just as Heathcliff pulled the singing kettle off the stovetop. He addressed them without looking back,

"Mister Tadashi, how do you take your tea? Two sugars like Madam, three like Master Frederick Senior or eight, like Master Frederick the Junior?"

"That was _one time!" _Fred pouted and looked away.

"And the living room has yet to be restored to its original state," Heathcliff said drily.

While Tadashi and Heathcliff stayed in the kitchen, Fred dashed back to his bedroom and pulled out his phone.

**(0-0)**

"_Cat loves food! Yeah, yeah, yeah! Cat loves food, y-yeah! Cat loves food! Yeah, yeah, ye –_"

Wasabi groaned as he saw the caller ID on his phone. He pressed the call button and held it to his ear with the delicacy of handling a pressure bomb.

"What is it, Fred?" He yawned.

"Hey man," Fred whispered, "Hope I didn't wake you up."

"Oh no," Wasabi's voice now sounded incredibly cheerful, "I don't mind being woken up in the middle of the night when I have class in the morning!"

"Oh, good!" Wasabi palmed his forehead and bit back a groan, "Look, I wanted to talk to you tomorrow about something."

"If it's about the invisible burrito, I'm going to turn you down."

"No, but that's still high on my priority list," Fred continued, "It's more about fire hazards."

Wasabi's eyes widened as he connected the pieces, "Fred. We all talked to him about it –"

"Not _that_," Fred interrupted him, "Helping him make a better fire alarm. So Tadashi doesn't lose his lab."

"Oh," Wasabi pinched the bridge of his nose, "An immediate solution or long-term?"

"It's a surprise for Tadashi," Fred answered, "Can you help me? I'm not good on this stuff on my own."

"That bad?" Wasabi hoped he sounded sympathetic despite his mood.

"I'll take that as a yes?" Fred asked hopefully.

Wasabi sighed, "Yes, Fred. I'll help you. See you in the morning –"

"Wasabi, wait!"

"Yes, Fred," Wasabi asked patiently.

"Don't tell Tadashi about this. It's a surprise."

"Alright, alright," Wasabi nodded, "Night."

He hung up and placed his phone back in its designated area taped and labeled. Now the hard part was getting back to sleep before the sun came up.

**(0-0)**

Go Go pounded at the punching bag, satisfied as it swayed hard back several inches. She had lost count of how long she had been doing this, but she knew she wasn't ready to go back to bed. Go Go counted in tens each time she managed to get the punching bag to swing back as far as she liked. She kept telling herself that each punch was the last one for the evening, but she kept at it. She wiped the sweat off her brow, trying to ignore how her eyes and body were aching when someone cleared their voice.

She turned around, fist raised, but stopped when she saw Honey Lemon standing at the top of the stairs with a nervous look on her face.

"Go Go," Honey Lemon began, "Do you...typically do this at night?"

Go Go sighed and lowered her fist. She began to fumble with the gloves before wincing as she noticed how sore her hands were from being clenched up for some time.

"Here," Honey Lemon walked over and took Go Go's hands into her own, "Let me help..."

Go Go stood obediently as Honey Lemon gently took the gloves off and helped unfurl her fingers, testing each one tentatively and ignoring the hisses of pain that she got in response.

"I thought you were asleep," Go Go spoke up as Honey Lemon placed a frozen bag of peas over her hands, "You do snore pretty loudly."

"Well, I typically do," Honey Lemon agreed, "but the punching was a lot louder. So... anything on your mind?"

Go Go kept her eyes on the table, "I just couldn't sleep. Didn't get enough of a workout earlier."

"Go Go, you and I both know you're a terrible liar," Honey Lemon smiled as she wiped her friend's face with a clean dishcloth, "Now you could tell me now, or I could host a sticker party right now. And you and I both know you don't leave the apartment this late at night."

"And I thought I was the mean one," Go Go said with a huff.

"So, what's it gonna be?" Honey Lemon's grin became a little bigger, "There're some cute kitty stickers I just bought. Mochi's been getting popular since that video's been posted."

"I had a nightmare," Go Go sighed, "Happy now?"

Honey Lemon's grin slid off her face, "Oh... do you want to talk about –"

"No."

"Not even a little bit?"

Go Go clenched her fist, realizing too late that it was a bad move as her bruised fingers ached. She looked at the table with intensity, trying not to think too much about that stupid dream.

"You know," Honey Lemon began, "It's a bit lonely downstairs by myself. Would you mind staying with me tonight?"

That brought a smile to Go Go's face, "Sure. But what about my hands?"

Honey Lemon blushed, "Um, after we get them bandaged up, of course."

As Honey Lemon tended to her friend's fingers, she couldn't help but notice how Go Go still seemed tense, like she was on the verge of cracking. She hoped that whatever it was, Go Go would be able to get past it. As her friend, Honey Lemon was determined to help Go Go get through whatever was haunting her.

That's what friends are for, after all.

**(0-0)**

Hiro yawned as he worked on a new blueprint. It was funny how his mind worked, sometimes. He told himself that once he got the basic outline, he would go to bed.

He looked up at the clock and sighed. Nearly three thirty in the morning and he had a class at eight thirty. The blueprint still needed work, but Hiro told himself that he did enough for the night, er, early morning. Mr. Rogers liked to keep telling him that he had to prioritize his health above all else and Hiro hated to disappoint his therapist.

He stood from the chair and stretched, feeling his bones crack, already ready to sink into his bed. Hiro crept up the stairs, one at a time, flinching when he stepped on a creaky floorboard. Thankfully, Aunt Cass didn't wake up, and he continued this pace until he reached the bedroom.

A month ago, Hiro was still the only one who lived up here anymore. Nothing had changed up till now, but a burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

A month ago, Hiro thought Tadashi was gone forever. A month ago, he couldn't handle the idea of the pain he, Aunt Cass, and everyone else went through was for nothing.

_Hiro, _Mr. Rogers' voice said in his head, _just because you go through pain doesn't mean you can't learn from it in some way._

_What do you mean?_ Hiro asked. _I thought I had to remember that my brother was still with me as long as I remembered him and he's still here._

_What did you want more than anything during that time you were alone? _Mr. Rogers asked gently.

…_to tell my brother I loved him. And wished that I didn't take him for granted. My brother did so much for me and I rarely thanked him._ Hiro sounded ashamed.

_Never take anyone for granted, Hiro. You'll never know what your last words to them will be._

When his brother came home, Hiro would make sure that Tadashi was given the respect he deserved. He had sacrificed so much of his time to keep his little brother safe, Hiro was confident that the new suit he was working on would help him protect Tadashi.

**(0-0)**

**Author's Note: **At long last, the first chapter to the sequel of _Shock _has arrived. I'm using elements from a MLP fic called _Families _by DarthLink22 for inspiration (really loved how it was written and had to rewrite some scenes to draw out the drama a little better). And I'm warning you that this is going to be longer than the first fic.

Stay around for the fun and don't forget to review!


	2. Working On Things

**Author's Note: **Thanks for the initial feedback, y'all. I'm going to do my best here.

Also, had to edit part of the last chapter because I forgot to describe Tadashi putting clothes. Try to get the image of Healthcliff offering a naked Tadashi tea out of your head now. XD

**(0-0)**

A red-haired girl with pigtails exited the car and slung her purple backpack over her shoulder. If one looked closely, they could see two red antennae-ears at the top and the back was a pale-pink clear plastic. Several Chibi head keychains dangled; a blue lizard creature with big yellow eyes, a girl with a purple visor and yellow helmet, and a dark-skinned man with a green visor and black dreadlocks.

As the girl walked towards her friends, the car behind her honked. The window rolled down,

"Have a good day at school, Julie!" Magnus Rogers called out with a bright smile, "I'm picking you up later!"

The girl, Julie, waved back, "Bye, Magnus!"

As the car drove off, one of her friends whispered, "Is he a friend to your dad?"

"No," Julie shook her head, "He's my dad, too!"

"Stepdad?"

"Nope."

The friend looked bewildered, "Are they married to _each other_?"

Julie shrugged, "Yeah, and I love them both."

"They're _guys!_" The friend repeated loudly.

"I heard you the first time," Julie dashed ahead as though she didn't hear the last comment, "We're gonna be late!"

The friend stayed where they were, still trying to process the information. The bell rang and they came to their senses, running into SanFransokyo Elementary as fast as they could.

**(0-0)**

Hiro didn't consider himself a morning person. He also didn't consider himself a morning person if he didn't get at least 8 hours of sleep minimum – though he would admit that it was mostly his fault for staying up late. That was why he had Baymax act as his alarm clock ever since he was rebuilt.

Best decision he ever made, no arguments there.

"Hiro?" A gentle nudge on his shoulder.

He pulled the blanket over his head and groaned.

Baymax tried again, "Hiro, you must wake up. Your first class will begin in at least two hours. And your assignment for Engineering 101 course is due this afternoon."

"Percentage of completion?" Hiro grumbled underneath the blanket.

"75%."

Hiro rolled out of bed now, rubbing his sore eyes and stretching. He was used to being dragged out of bed by Tadashi in the past, usually by the ankles. When Hiro graduated high school, that "tradition" stopped for the most part.

"Baymax, estimated time of assignment completion," he ordered.

"Approximately 35.45 minutes if lunch is skipped."

That was an acceptable price. He didn't want to deal with a Tardy on his assignment again, not after the fiasco with the building project in Granville's class. If Karmi took a picture of him screwing up one more time…

He pushed those thoughts aside and gathered his things into his backpack before making his way downstairs, wincing as he heard Baymax tumble down the steps after him.

"Oh no," Baymax said calmly.

Aunt Cass ignored Baymax's collapsed body and greeted her nephew, "Hey Hiro, can I get you anything before you head out?"

"Maybe some toast?" Hiro suggested half-heartedly, though he was already making his way to the door.

"Hiro, at your age, you should be more aware of your nutrition and vitamin intake," Baymax interjected as he got up, his chest lighting up with a food pyramid. Baymax blinked and looked at Aunt Cass, "I would suggest a glass of orange juice with a serving of oatmeal, and a small cup of gold raisins for protein."

"Coming right up," Aunt Cass nodded and headed over towards the counter.

Hiro fought down his first instinct to protest, because he knew Baymax was right, even if it was frustrating to listen to his friend sometimes. So, he kept his mouth shut for once and ate what Aunt Cass brought out a few minutes later, even if he wasn't in the mood for oatmeal that morning. He hugged Aunt Cass when he was done and exited the café with Baymax following close behind.

The walk to SFIT, or SanFransokyo Institute of Technology, was a slow but pleasant one. It was quicker by car or the moped, but Hiro didn't want to use the latter without Tadashi's permission. The look on his face when Hiro told him how he used it when he was sick, though…

Hiro chuckled and continued, looking back every so often to make sure Baymax was still behind him. When SFIT came into view, just past the small bridge that he and Tadashi talked that night of the Showcase, Hiro couldn't help but admire the sight. It wasn't like the Emerald City, that was certain, but the grassy walkway with the cherry blossoms made it feel comforting, like there was more to life than staying cooped up in a lab all day making inventions.

_When did I start thinking like this? _Hiro thought suddenly, _Was there something in the oatmeal? Nah, Aunt Cass wouldn't poison me…on purpose._

At least an hour and a half to kill before the first class of the day, that was always nice. Hiro knew he could work on his homework in his private lab until Engineering 101 began and decided to head over there.

When he entered into the main lab area that was a shared space for everyone, though, he stared.

It was as if Christmas had come early and had forgotten to include green in the decorations. Banners covered the walls with SFIT's logo on them. A small pile of empty boxes was littered to Hiro's left. Red balloons were floating up towards the ceiling. Whoever oversaw this mess should have done it somewhere else, not in an area where experiments were performed daily, and accidents could happen at any moment.

Hiro barely had a moment to react when he heard Fred cry out,

"DUDE! CATCH!"

He held his arms up and felt something thrown against him. Hiro looked at it and unfurled the object to reveal a dark blue sweatshirt with red fins on top trailing down the hood. The front bared the SFIT logo surrounded by a burgundy gear.

"Put it on!" Fred jumped out of nowhere and looked at Hiro excitedly.

Hiro pulled it over his head, feeling ridiculous as the other students in the lab looked on with amusement. When he finished, two foam fingers were roughly shoved onto his hands.

"Fred," Hiro began slowly, tempted to pull off the foam fingers, "What is this?"

"IT'S RIVALRY WEEK!" Fred shouted with glee. Hiro winced and took a few steps back.

"And that is…?" Hiro began.

Karmi came to the rescue with a manic expression on her face, "SFIT does battle with our rival school, SanFransokyo Art Institute or SFAI! That darn school of subjectivists and irrationality, feeling and acting on instinctive. THEY WILL FEEL OUR SCIENTIFIC WRATH!"

She ended her speech with a dramatic finger in the air as her mouth frothed.

"Okay…" Hiro wiped the spittle off his face and looked between Karmi coming down from her dramatic rant and Fred, who had just pulled out a dartboard with the picture of a mascot dressed as a snail. He was having a hard time decided which was the lesser extreme when Wasabi came in-between the two.

"No one told you about Rivalry Week?" He asked.

Hiro grinned nervously.

Karmi smirked, "Oooh, I think this is the start of something wonderful. Breaking in the fresh meat."

"Wasabi," Hiro slowly backed away from her, "Help me…"

"Karmi," Wasabi came to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I know you love this time in the semester, but would you please take it down to a 3?"

Karmi huffed like a little child, "_Fine_, I won't scar him. Much."

"Scar me?" Hiro squeaked.

Wasabi smiled serenely, "Thank you. Now be gentle with him, it's his first time."

Hiro's eyes widened, "Wait, you're not actually leaving me with _her_, are you?!"

"Sorry, bud," Wasabi shrugged, "Fred and I have to talk strategy."

"Let me talk strategy with you, too!" Hiro frantically begged, "I'll even dress up as the mascot and do cheers!"

"Position's filled, I'm afraid," Fred smiled and walked out of the room with Wasabi.

Hiro backed away from Karmi, who looked at him with a menacing grin. He bumped into Baymax from behind and turned to his friend pleadingly.

"Baymax, help me!"

"I suggest taking deep breaths as your heartrate is: increasing."

"Not what I meant!"

**(0-0)**

"Okay, Fred," Wasabi closed the door behind them and looked at Fred and crossed arms, "What is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Dude, you don't remember?" Fred asked incredulously, "I need your help with Tadashi's powers –"

"Shh!" Wasabi shushed loudly, "We're at school, now! If you want to talk hero stuff, talk about it _quietly_."

Fred covered his mouth and whispered loudly, "We need to figure out how to get Tadashi's powers under control."

"Quieter!"

"Sorry," Fred lowered his voice, "I said that Tada –"

"Fred, I'm not deaf," Wasabi said drily, "And shouldn't this be a group discussion with the others?"

"First off," Fred looked stern, "We _just _got everyone talking to each other again. Hiro's starting to use his medication less, and something like this would make him take a few steps backwards. Go Go and Tadashi are trying to get back to 'Best Friends' status. And Honey Lemon…"

Fred stopped and put a finger to his chin,

"Actually, maybe Honey Lemon would be _really _helpful with this part."

Wasabi sighed but didn't say anything. As much as he hated to say it, Fred did have good points. Who knew what would happen if the others got involved in this too quickly? What if seeing his brother on fire sent Hiro into another panic attack? And Go Go was still feeling really guilty about how she handled the situation in the beginning and must have seen any chance at talking to Tadashi like skating on thin ice.

But what could Wasabi do to help? He was good at cutting things up, but…

He remembered being captured by Baron von Steamer and not being able to help the others when they fought him. He remembered how his OCD caused friction between himself and Hiro. And the last time they fought Globby, Wasabi freaked out and fainted like a little girl. What good was he on the team?

"You okay, man?" Fred's voice snapped Wasabi out of his thoughts.

"Maybe Honey Lemon would be better for this," Wasabi said quietly, "I'd probably just get in the way –"

"NO!"

Wasabi jumped a little, and stared at Fred, who was now _glaring _at him.

"I need _you_, Wasabi," Fred pointed his finger at him, "I need _your _help. You're the only on the team who can help. You're _great_ with precision, you're _awesome _at keeping us – mostly me – in line."

"Hiro's good at thinking outside the box," Wasabi began, but Fred interrupted him.

"So are you," he added, "Remember when we fought Callaghan? You were the first person to suggest using the low gravity to our advantage. _You_. And it probably saved Hiro and Baymax in the end. Honey Lemon might have the knowledge and Go Go might have the thick skin and Hiro might be able to think outside the box like Tadashi, but _you _can keep your eyes on the prize."

Wasabi felt his face grow warm with each word Fred said. Him? The neat-freak? The guy with lasers?

"What can I do, then?" Wasabi asked finally.

Fred smiled, "Tadashi needs to figure out how to control his powers and I need someone to keep me from doing dangerous ideas and keeping it safe. You in or what?"

Finally, Wasabi smiled, "Yeah, I'm in. "

**(0-0)**

**Author's Note: **To anyone who's wondering, yup, Magnus Rogers, my OC from the previous installment, is going to be a major character here. He just stood out to me in my opinion and I felt that he deserved to be fleshed out more. I also want him interacting with other characters other than Hiro.

And I felt that I owed Wasabi for not giving him enough POV's in _Shock_ and decided to give him his own little subplot with his confidence. I really hate how he didn't get much of an opportunity to shine in the show and was turned into a comic relief character. He's more than that.

Thank you all again for your reviews so quickly in the first chapter, I wasn't expecting 5 when I first published it. Some of you said some pretty interesting things that I think would work in the story if I handle this properly.

Just keep doing what you've been doing and shower me with reviews! :)


	3. History Lesson and Other Plans

**Author's Note: **I'm so sorry about the messup, I don't know how it happened. Thanks to **superkola **for pointing it out to me that Chapter 2 somehow copied itself. To anyone who reviewed this one to let me know, you'll have to give your review as a guest since this site doesn't allow for multiple reviews of one chapter by the same user.

Now, here's the _real _update!

* * *

"So," Hiro chuckled weakly as Karmi had him backed into a corner – literally and figuratively – with a maniacal expression on her face, "What exactly are you going to do?"

"We," Karmi said, "are going to…."

"Going to…?" Hiro repeated with dread.

"Be posting…"

"Posting…?" The dread in Hiro's voice increased.

"POSTERS!" Karmi pulled out a large stack of papers with a big grin on her face.

"POSTING POSTERS?!" Hiro screamed until he realized what he was being frightened of, "What, what?"

"You're going to help me get these across campus, Newbie," Karmi explained, her sour drawl returning a little, "And there better not be any leftovers by the end of the day or I'll be mad."

"Um…why are we posting these posters over campus?" Hiro asked hesitantly.

Karmi scoffed, "To remind people that it's Rivalry Week, of course! Get the school spirit going!"

"Well, you see Karmi, I have some classes that I –" Hiro stammered as he was handed the large stack of posters. They sagged in his arms and Hiro nearly lost his footing.

"This won't take forever," Karmi waved her hand dismissively as she dragged Hiro out of the lab by his hoodie, "Besides, someone has to give you the rundown on what we need to accomplish by the end of this week. Day One is spreading the word."

"And you think you're the best qualified for the job?" Hiro asked with a frown.

"Of course," Karmi said brightly now, "I was the Newbie last year and have the duties of instructing the next generation of freshmen."

"Karmi, I'm not the only new kid around here."

"Well, instructing at least _one _of the next generation," Karmi amended.

"You're two years older than me!"

"I consider myself older on the inside."

**(0-0)**

Honey Lemon bit her lip, trying to figure out what to do next. Go Go was right in front of her. She'd always dreamed of it being like this. Just the two of them. Together.

Alone.

"Honey Lemon…" Go Go groaned.

"Be patient," she said quietly, "And keep it down, someone'll hear us!"

"I don't care," Go Go grumbled, "Just stop taking breaks in-between or we'll never get this done."

"Sh…" Honey Lemon wanted to press her finger to her lips, but with the stuff on her hands… "I'm almost there, just be patient."

Her palms were sweaty, trembling with excitement. This was her first time; she couldn't screw this up or Go Go would never forgive her for it! She licked her lips and fought the urge to curl up or else she'd make a mess –

"Will you hurry up and finish the drawing? I'm getting stiff!" Go Go snapped as she sat on the stool.

"Sorry, Go Go," Honey Lemon smiled and moved her pencil over the easel.

When she had woken up that morning with Go Go curled up next to her, Honey Lemon had initially thought it best to let her friend sleep in that morning. Whatever had been keeping Go Go up had the side effect of keeping her from hearing Honey Lemon's snoring – which had been recorded by Baymax as proof, much to her embarrassment. Did she really sound like a donkey?

"I still can't believe you were afraid we'd mock you for this," Go Go said a few minutes later while Honey Lemon traced the outline, "Liking art _and _science is a bad thing to you?"

"You'd be surprised," Honey Lemon smiled sheepishly, "When I was growing up…kids would be making fun of me for being into Chemistry and Art."

"That doesn't make sense," Go Go's tone brokered on disbelief.

"Again, you'd be surprised," Honey Lemon repeated in a darker tone, "I was either a nerd who should have been playing with dolls or a granola girl who made messes when she painted. I couldn't win at all with them. And…"

She lowered her pencil and frowned.

"And I thought if I only was interested in _one _thing, the teasing wouldn't be as bad."

What Honey Lemon saw next was over in the span of two seconds, but she saw how significant the flash of fury crossed over Go Go's face was before fading away. It wasn't like her typical snark or irritation. It was closer to when…

_Fred crashed to the ground, groaning in pain. Nobody moved, not even the Kabuki Man._

"_What's the plan?" Wasabi asked nervously._

"_Get the mask!" Go Go gritted her teeth and darted forward like a knife._

"_Right behind you!" Honey Lemon charged after her with her Chem Purse ready._

It was something closer to _that_, she decided.

"Miss Lemon," a man came over to her work station and looked over the sketch approvingly, "I'm just checking on your progress, don't mind me."

"I don't," Honey Lemon giggled a little.

The man's eyes widened as he examined Honey Lemon's sketch, "Didn't you start this half an hour ago?"

"Yes," Honey Lemon began slowly, "Is there a problem?"

"My dear," the man exclaimed, "It's so detailed! So vivid! You should have joined SFAI sooner, with talent like that!"

Honey Lemon felt her cheeks grow hot, "Thank you, sir."

"I'll be out of your way, now," the man nodded and walked away.

Go Go looked on with an amused grin, "So, SFAI. How long have you been enrolled for?"

"Since September," Honey Lemon admitted, "Between my boutique work and SFIT and our…"

She leaned in a little and whispered,

"_Other_ job…I wasn't sure if I could do it."

"You're part time at SFIT, too," Go Go pointed out, almost breaking out of her pose before collecting herself, "Could we stop soon? I'm getting tired."

"We've only been at this for half an hour, how are you getting tired so quickly?"

"Sweetheart, I'm fast, but I don't have stamina."

"I feel sorry for anyone you bring over, then."

"What was that?" Go Go's jaw dropped, "Did you just…?"

"What are you…" Honey Lemon felt her face burn as she realized what came out of her mouth, "Oh…sorry. I, uh, you weren't supposed to hear that…"

"I'll let it slide," Go Go said amiably.

Honey Lemon looked over her sketch and nodded to herself, "Okay, Go Go. You can stop, now."

Go Go sagged in her chair with relief. After a few moments, she got up and looked at the sketch.

"You could show this to the others, you know," Go Go observed.

"After Rivalry Week," Honey Lemon said firmly, "I…I wouldn't want to start any drama, or anything like that."

"Your choice," Go Go sighed.

**(0-0)**

Hiro's burden lifted slowly as each poster was placed across campus, but his arms were still close to popping off at any moment. Karmi's ranting about the history of Rivalry Week proved to be a useful distraction from it.

Each semester, the schools would pull pranks on each other. SFAI would decorate the SFIT dining hall with a special theme, sometimes even decorate the students. Hiro sniggered when Karmi described how an unfortunate group ended up resembling Dalmatians, with red collars for added insult.

But his mind drifted off at times, sometimes thinking about how long it was taking and if he would be late, other times wondering what the others were doing. Now his mind was focusing on the blueprint he had been working on the night before.

Would the suit be bulky for protection and for appearance? Of course, it would probably get him a different nickname with his luck, like Baby Panda or Panda Jr. if Karmi wanted to write about it in her fanfiction. Urgh, just thinking about the first time he read what she wrote sent shivers down his backbone. On the other hand, it _did _give the team good ideas…maybe he could look at her newest chapter tonight to get some ideas…not that he liked what was written, obviously –

"…catapulted off campus…"

"Huh?" Hiro shook himself. At Karmi's scowl, he said apologetically, "I drifted for a moment there, what did you say?"

"I said the first time we stole SFAI's statue, we catapulted it off their campus," Karmi raised an eyebrow at him, "That's at least a thousand pounds."

"Wow," Hiro whistled, "How did it stay in one piece?"

"It didn't," Karmi became solemn and Hiro had to bite back a snigger, "It was destroyed on impact, SFIT got sued over it and had to pay for a new statue. Then a new rule for Rivalry Week was in put in place that stated that we could steal the statue as long as it was returned in one piece."

"Ouch," Hiro winced.

"I know," Karmi nodded grimly, "It's a price to pay, but it's worth it just to see their faces when that statue of Lenore Shimamoto's gone."

"Shimamoto," Hiro repeated the word quietly, "I think Honey Lemon mentioned her once, right before we were trying to –"

He stopped himself, realizing how close he was to admitting to Karmi that Hiro and the others had tried to prevent one of Shimamoto's works from being stolen. For what purpose, Hiro wasn't sure, though Globby could have sold it for a high price somewhere if he wasn't, well, a purple goo monster and all.

Now his thoughts went towards that weird eye Globby had been trying to get back before being scared off. When he heard of purple goo near the Lucky Cat Café, he almost had a panic attack and had Baymax scan the area to see if Globby had broken into the house at all.

Aunt Cass had been that close to danger and she wouldn't have known it until it was too late.

"Hell~o," Karmi waved her hand in front of his face with impatience, "Anyone home? You keep blanking out on me."

"Oh," Hiro blinked and realized how close he was to dropping the posters, "Sorry, just…thinking…"

He waited for her typical 'you have a crush on me' remark, but she simply ignored him and continued walking.

Huh. Well, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, now was he?

"What did you guys do last semester?" He asked.

"Life Sciences got credited for that one," Karmi explained, "Genetically engineered carrier pigeons."

Hiro raised an eyebrow, "Karmi, that, um sounds…_nice_, but…doesn't that seem a bit…difficult for birds to do? Even if they were genetically engineered?"

"Have you ever seen a movie called _Up_?"

"Worst five dollars Aunt Cass ever spent," Hiro rolled his eyes, "Tadashi and I broke the disc, shredded it in the blender and set it on fire after the first ten minutes."

"What." Karmi stared, "That's not _Up!_"

"Yes, it is," Hiro insisted, "It was in the title."

Karmi slapped her forehead, "No, that's _What's Up_, the movie that ripped off _Up!_ _Up_ is a Pixar movie about an old man who decides to honor his late wife's wish to visit a place called Paradise Falls in South America and he travels _in his house. Using balloons!_"

"And…?"

"It was calculated to be scientifically possible with enough balloons to lift up the hou – you know what, I'll show it to you tonight!"

"What."

Karmi smirked, "Consider this your dream come true, Newbie. You get to spend the night watching a movie with your crush."

There it was.

"What."

"7:30. Your house. The Lucky Cat Café."

"What."

"I'll bring the movie over and you can – HEY! DON'T DROP THE POSTERS!"

**(0-0)**

_Cameras flashed; his hands gripped the podium. He told himself that this was just a few questions and then he could leave. That was all. He had to do this or else it wouldn't go away._

_To Tadashi's left, Hiro and Aunt Cass stood, their expressions borderline nerved._

Do it for them_, he told himself, _do it for them and we can all move on.

"_Hello," he spoke into the microphone, "My name's Tadashi Hamada, and as you can see…I'm not dead."_

_Voices overlapped and the grip on the podium tightened. He saw his friends in the crowed, waving to him. He nodded in their direction, but unfortunately, someone interpreted it differently._

"_Mister Hamada, how did you survive the fire?" A reporter asked._

_Tadashi took a deep breath, bringing to mind what he had been drilled to say by Mr. Frederickson's lawyers over and over again._

"_I was…relocated by my former professor into a different city. I spent the first month comatose, the second and third one trying to get back home."_

"_Are you planning on seeking retribution against Robert Callaghan for the attempt on your life?"_

"_He's already facing criminal charges," Tadashi shook his head, "It honestly wouldn't be worth it at this point. All I want is to be with my family."_

"_What do you have to say about the actions that led to your disappearance?"_

_Tadashi blinked, "I'm sorry, what was that?"_

"_Eyewitnesses stated that they saw you running into the burning building before it exploded. Do you have anything to comment on that and how it led to your disappearance?"_

"_Well, I…"_

"_Eyewitnesses also stated that your younger brother tried to stop you, but you insisted on entering the fire anyhow. He proceeded to follow you a few moments later before the explosion happened. Why didn't you ensure your brother's safety?"_

"_I don't think that..."_

"_You were willing to throw your life away for a man you had known for barely two years instead of keeping yourself and your family from getting hurt in what the police has now identified as arson. Do you deny it?"_

"_No comment," Tadashi felt his face growing hot._

"_Were you in any way connected to the attack on Krei Tech and Krei Tech personal the day Robert Callaghan opened that portal?"_

"_No!" Tadashi let go of the podium and said forcefully. He started to smell lint._

"_I think that's enough questioning for today," one of Mr. Frederickson's lawyers came up and started to guide Tadashi away from the reporters, "Thank you for your time."_

_Under his breath, the lawyer muttered, "Don't react, that'll feed the sharks."_

"_I'm trying," Tadashi gritted his teeth. The smell was getting stronger._

"_Take deep breathes," the man ordered._

_Tadashi tried to do so, but the noise was getting to him. He just wanted them to stop._

"_Jesus!" The lawyer flung his arm away from Tadashi, "You're burning up!"_

_Smoke filled the air. The man's startled cry gave into terror as Tadashi became engulfed in flames, before he turned to the reporters and raised his arms at them – _

"Tadashi!"

Tadashi gave a start and scanned his surroundings. His back ached from sleeping on the couch, but at least it wasn't smoldering. The screen was lit up and Mr. Frederickson appeared to be in some desert region looking at him with worry.

"I was just checking up on you. The missus told me of your little 'accident' last night," Mr. Frederickson explained, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Tadashi breathed, "I'm fine."

He looked down at his hands and clenched them tight,

"Just fine…"

**(0-0)**

**Author's Note: **To anyone who can figure out what show I was giving a shout out to in the beginning of the chapter, they get a cameo in the next chapter or so. Here's a hint, it was a Disney show.

Honey Lemon's POV at the start was inspired by chapter 27 of _Advice and Trust_ by Panther2G. I felt like doing a double entendre for that first part too for laughs. Especially since the Honey Lemon/Go Go shippers have more moments between those two.

I honestly didn't understand Honey's angst about admitting to her best friends that she liked art too, so I had to give a better reason. Sweetheart, you can have more than one interest at a time. Like me, I'm a video game, baking, singing writer with a fanfic reading fetish.

Saw the snapshots for Season Two. Hoping this 'Mary' character is Marys Iosama from the comics. Please review!


	4. Movie at the Cafe

**Author's Note: **Saw _Internabout _and thought it was a decent episode. Still need to see episode 2 of Season 2 – I just remembered that the new character was named Megan, not Marys, my bad…. – and hope that the writers will amp up the story telling.

Short rant almost over. I'm not saying the show shouldn't be funny, I want the humor and drama to be more balanced like in _Steven Universe. _12-15 minute episodes each and they're packed with great humor, story, and character development in a short time span. Please take note, writers, that show is a great example.

Thanks for the reviews to those who gave them, and to those who didn't.

_Leans in: _I know where you live…or I _would _if I was psychic and was that obsessive over something that trivial.

**(0-0)**

Cass Hamada was waving the last of her customers for the night out the door with a smile on her face. Nothing ever truly phased her for long, she would just keep smiling and plow through whatever was plaguing her until it was just a memory. Losing – and then regaining – her eldest nephew, had been considered one of the most difficult times in recent memory if anyone would bother asking her regulars. But they would also say that Cass carried that burden like she did with everything else, a smile on her face and an offer of more coffee.

Hiro was toying with the strings of his sweatshirt, getting more anxious each time he looked at the clock by the counter. Not even Mochi curling himself onto his master's lap offered much for comfort, it seemed. Or Baymax hugging him from the side. Cass had just closed the door and flipped the sign to **Closed** when she saw how distressed her nephew was becoming. She casually walked over and sat down beside him before she started.

"Everything alright, Hiro?" She asked.

Hiro snapped his head in Cass's direction and sagged,

"Oh, hey Aunt Cass. It was a…long day, I guess."

"Want to talk about it?" Cass gently offered.

This only made Hiro curl into himself and scare Mochi away, "Well, um, Aunt Cass, the thing is, I um…"

Baymax spoke up at the moment, "Hiro, I have just received a text message from Karmi informing you that she will be arriving in five minutes."

"WHAT?!" Hiro stood up from his chair and gave Baymax a look that dared him to repeat what he had just said.

"Karmi?" Cass looked interested, "Isn't she that girl you kept on talking about when the semester began?"

Hiro's face turned beet-red as he stammered to his aunt, "Nothing like that, Aunt Cass, I swear, she's been picking on me since we met and I want _nothing _to do with her."

"Bullying you?" Cass's face became fierce, reminding Hiro why he didn't like it when he saw her get angry, "So why is she coming over here?"

"She is coming over to show Hiro a movie called _Up_," Baymax answered, oblivious to the confusion he was adding into the conversation.

"She _invited_ herself over and called it a date," Hiro held both his hands up, "Which it _isn't_! She thinks I have a crush on her and she's just saying it is to tease me."

Cass seemed to take this into consideration as she got up and emptied the tip jar.

"Why does she want to show you a movie?" Cass asked after a moment.

"Because I said I never saw it and something about carrier pigeons…." Hiro shook his head, "Not the point. She's coming over and I wasn't sure how to tell you and –"

"If it's just a movie, then count me in," Cass smiled, then frowned in thought, "I wonder if I can squeeze a horror film into it."

"If it can get her to leave sooner, I wouldn't mind."

Just then, Karmi's face came into view behind the glass panel. She took a moment to look at the sign before beginning to tap at the glass _tap tap tap_, while Hiro and Cass stood there in silence. Summoning up all of his courage, Hiro went towards the door like a man towards the gallows and slowly pulled the door open.

Karmi brushed past him, looking around the café with wide eyes.

"You live here?" She asked no one in particular. Her voice took on a higher pitch when she saw the pastries on display, "Tiger's Claw?! You _sell _those?!"

"We sure do," Cass smiled, "But not after closing time."

She held out her hand, "I'm Cassie Hamada, but you can call me Cass."

Karmi looked at the woman and smiled nervously, "Right. Karmi. My name. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Hamada."

Cass rolled her eyes, "Mrs. Hamada was my sister. I'm just a Miss."

"Miss…?" Karmi said hesitantly, "Is she…out…for the evening?"

Hiro wanted to steer the conversation to something less awkward like that stupid movie Karmi had invited herself over to watch with him, but Cass was faster.

"She's not with us anymore," Cass sighed sadly and Hiro began to glare daggers at Karmi for _daring _to even broach the topic, "Not for the past ten years."

Karmi looked like she was punched in the gut and she had the decency to look down and play with a strand of her hair.

"I'm sorry," she began, but Cass cut her off.

"It's fine, sweetie," Cass said dismissively, "You didn't know."

"So…" Karmi tried again after a moment, "I came over to show Hiro a movie?"

"Well, we do love movies here," Cass's smile returned again, "I'll get some popcorn ready and you can make yourself comfortable upstairs. Hiro, maybe you should get into your movie clothes?"

Hiro facepalmed himself while Karmi mouthed '_Movie clothes?_' with a bewildered expression.

"Just…give me a few minutes," he managed to say after a few moments. He dashed upstairs and he was certain that Karmi was sniggering softly.

When he grabbed the T-shirt with the movie reel from his drawers, he saw something fly out and land on the floor with a thud. Hiro picked it up and tossed it back in his drawer dismissively.

He really needed to remember to get rid of that stupid eye Honey Lemon found. He just didn't know why he kept forgetting.

**(0-0)**

The boy moved out of the screen's line of vision as the camera was thrown aside. Obake tapped the console, imputing a few commands, and watched the screen begin to show more than just crummy T-shirts and an old robot toy.

Sometimes, the most brilliant plans were the ones you hid in plain sight.

**(0-0)**

**Author's Note: **Since Season 1 is pretty confusing in terms of how long the semester seemed to be – which should have been at least 3 and ¼ months yet seemed longer – I'm going take advantage of that little problem the writers seemed to have and work it into my timeline – which, admittedly, also needs some work too – and try and have some fun with it.

Also _finally _managed to figure out how to turn that MacGuffin into a Chekov's Gun from the last story. I swear, it was _this _close to becoming a new GS Ball or something.

Sorry for the short chapter, just wanted to keep updating. Please review!


	5. Drawings

**Author's Note**: I'm back. And now to the lab again. Also, sorry for the long absence. Just having a hard time writing in general...

**(0-0)**

"Shut up." A brown-haired man growled.

"Come on, admit it. You couldn't keep your hands off each other.'' A stout, but muscular man of similar hair color was smirking.

"Shut. Up."

"I'm sure if you take Jack aside, you two can work something out."

"For the last time, our hands were literally glued to each other by SFAI last night and we're just lucky the cafeteria's still untouched."

"That's because I was there to scare 'em off." The stout man struck his thumb to his chest proudly.

"Dude, you were screaming like a chicken and running around in circles when we found you. Astrid was the one who did the scaring."

Wasabi couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the two from a distance quarrel. Several feet away, a young woman with blonde hair bundled in a ponytail was facepalming while the man next to her was trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.

He caught Honey Lemon's eye, but she seemed to be preoccupied with something, her eyes darting left and right as she forced a fake laugh. Go Go was munching on some popcorn while the argument grew louder and more ridiculous. Hiro was nowhere to be found.

"For the last time. Jack. And I. Are not. DATING!

"There's nothing wrong with having a side-rooster, Hiccup. It's perfectly natural for a man of great need to –"

"WHAT'S A SIDE-ROOSTER?!" Hiccup shrilled.

"Male version of a side-chick," the stout man said simply, his smirk growing wider, "Typically big, loud and loves nice big c – "

"DON'T FINISH THAT SENTENCE!"

The man named Jack held up his hand nervously, "Could I say something –?"

"NO!" Hiccup and the stout man spoke simultaneously.

"Would you two knock it off?!" Astrid snapped, "Everyone knows that Jack and Hiccup aren't gay."

"Astrid," the stout man said appealingly, "I never said that they were gay. They're clearly bisexual and don't know how to break it to –"

He was cut off mid-sentence by a flying disc striking him in the solar apex. Hiccup looked back at Go Go with an apologetic smile that quickly withered under her glare. He awkwardly picked up the disc from where it landed and placed it back in the bin with the rest.

"Hello fellow SFIT nerds!" Fred swaggered into the room with a look of satisfaction on his face. Hiro followed him from behind with Baymax coming right after him, "How's everyone this morning?"

"Tired, grumpy and possible going to get charged with assault," Hiccup grumbled, gesturing to the stout man groaning on the floor.

"Grumpy? You, Hiccup? Why?"

"Who do you think got the short straw on guard duty last night?" Hiccup glowered at Fred, as if he was angry that someone got to be happy in the morning.

"I was with him," Jack added as he greeted Fred more cheerfully than his friend.

Go Go smirked, "I'm sure you were –"

"Aw, shut up," Jack said drily, but a small smile was on his face.

"Hiccup?" Hiro echoed, before saying a moment later with finality, "It was Fred, wasn't it?"

Hiccup sighed, "You have a bad fit of them for an entire day and no one lets you live it down."

"Does Fred have nicknames for everyone in this school?"

"Nope," Fred smiled at Hiro, "But not for lack of trying."

"Well, it could be a lot worse," Wasabi said reassuringly to Hiccup.

Hiccup looked at him with a funny expression, "How?"

"At least you didn't spill wasabi on your shirt once."

"That's because you had the best reaction to it, though," Jack grinned, showing his pearly-white teeth. Then to prove his point even further, he started flailing his arms in exaggerated horror, hopping on one foot to the next screaming "Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!" Wasabi noted with relief that Fred was the only one not laughing. Unless he were to count Baymax. Hiro weakly chuckled, but that was because he looked just as distracted as Honey Lemon was a few moments ago.

Wasabi glowered at him, "Not now, Jack. Not ever."

"That's the fresh meat, isn't it?" Astrid pointed to Hiro. Hiro suddenly wilted, not wanting to be put on the spot.

Fred wrapped his arm protectively around Hiro, "The one and only Hiro Hamada. Fourteen, sweet-toothed and great guy all around."

"Hamada?" Hiccup raised his eyebrow, "You wouldn't be related to Tadashi Hamada, would you?"

"My…brother…?" Hiro grinned shyly. It was clear he had forgotten how his brother was considered a legend on campus with being a superhero and…recent developments.

"You mean Tadieshi."

If looks could kill, then Hiro would have committed murder right then and there with the stout man as his victim. Other students looked a bit uncomfortable the joke, Hiccup's glare was more furious than annoyed now. Go Go looked like she wanted to throw something at the stout man as he got up.

"It was..." he tried, "just…just a joke. Come on, guys…"

"Ignore my stupid cousin," Hiccup gave another glare at the stout man, "He likes to speak before he thinks."

"Tadieshi?" Hiro moved past Hiccup and glowered at the stout man as he made his way towards him.

"Hiro…" Go Go made a move to intervene, but Hiro held up a hand, his face rigid with fury. The stout man appeared to regain some of his swagger at the challenge and stood up, towering over Hiro by a few inches.

"You heard me," the stout man said, "What else would you want me to call him? Tadumbshi?"

"My brother. Isn't. DUMB!"

"What would call someone who runs into a burning building everyone was just getting out of?"

Hiro's fist flew right at the stout man, knocking him off balance and onto the floor. The man rubbed his nose and found blood staining his hand. With a growl, he stood and was about to pounce Hiro –

"Snotlout!" Hiccup stepped forward, grabbing his cousin and swerving him in the opposite direction. Astrid and Jack came over a moment later and helped restrain the man. Hiro's vision started turning red, ready to lunge forward when Fred pulled him by his hoodie and dragged him away. Wasabi came to his aid when Hiro began breaking free from Fred's hold.

"Hey, hey, let me go! Let me at him!"

Snotlout looked like he was going to continue, but Hiccup proceeded to drag him out of the lab by his ear, ignoring his cries "Ow! Ow! Okay, I'll shut up! Ow!"

"Hiro, don't listen to him," Wasabi said as he helped Fred pull Hiro away into the hallway. Honey Lemon and Go Go came out moments after with worried expressions, "He says dumb stuff like that a lot."

"No one insults my brother!" Hiro snapped as he fought in Fred's grasp, snarling and spitting, almost kicking Wasabi in the nose.

"Just ignore him," Fred added, doing his best to ignore the elbow jabs to his chest.

Baymax waddled over and placed his arms around Hiro. He patted the boy on the head, "There, there."

The effect was almost immediate. Hiro stopped struggled and sighed. He let Baymax rub his head for a few moments and returned the hug. Reassured that Hiro was calmed, Fred and Wasabi slowly let him go. Hiro hugged Baymax tighter now that he was free, pressing his face against the vinyl tightly.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, sounding more fourteen than he intended. Baymax said nothing and pressed his forehead against Hiro's. There was nothing but slow, steady breathing for a few moments before they seperated and Hiro looked at Fred and Wasabi solemnly, "I'm sorry."

Both of them said nothing and simply pulled Hiro in for a hug. Go Go and Honey Lemon joined a moment later, and Baymax followed them in half a beat.

Another minute of this and the group hug ended. Hiro demanded an explanation for Snoutlout's remark.

It wasn't a good one.

"Tadashi's a legend around here," Honey Lemon started, her hands writhing together in her worry, "But…more than a few people have...even if it was cruel…they thought the way Tadashi 'left' us could have been avoided."

"Meaning?" Hiro tried to keep his breathing even, he refused to let his emotions get the better of him again.

"Snotlout's not the only person talking about your bro behind your back, Hiro," Wasabi rubbed the back of his neck with a grimace, "I think I'm losing track of how many times I heard someone mutter how stupid Tadashi was that night whenever his name was brought up."

Hiro was about to open his mouth to protest when he remembered that conversation he had with Mr. Rogers a while ago and the talk he and Tadashi had shortly afterwards. He knew that what his brother did was stupid, but it sounded worse hearing it from other people.

"He's not stupid," Hiro cursed himself for sounding so childish now. He was going through puberty for crying out loud. He shouldn't be…this.

"We know he's not, Hiro," Honey Lemon agreed, "And so do a lot of people."

"I remember kicking someone in the balls for saying that," a new voice added. Hiro yelped and spun around, blinking in shock when he saw it was Karmi. He never would have expected to see her look so bitter.

"You kicked someone?" Hiro asked slowly, "Was it…Snotlout?"

Karmi smirked, "Nope, just someone his IQ level."

"He's going for an engineer degree, though…" Fred mumbled.

"Still an idiot in my book," Karmi waved off the correction with her hand, moving past the group quickly, "Did they do the drawing today? Did I miss it?"

"D-drawing?" Honey Lemon stammered, "What drawing? I didn't see any drawing!"

"The drawing of straws for who gets to be on guard duty?" Karmi looked at Honey Lemon suspiciously.

"Oh," Honey Lemon laughed loudly, "Of course, that's what I meant!"

Jack stuck his head out of the lab door at that moment, "We're doing the drawing soon and –"

He caught sight of Hiro and cleared his throat, "You okay, kid?"

Hiro nodded quickly. He quickly added, "Sorry about that..."

"Don't listen to that jerk," Jack said dismissively, "He tries to rile up everyone. If you're ready, you can come back in."

The gang headed back into the lab where Astrid was now holding a baseball cap. Honey Lemon suddenly looked nervous. Astrid held the cap up high, depositing slips of paper that were passed to her, "Alright everyone, put your names in the hat. Don't be shy. Freshmen included."

"Could someone tell me about this?" Hiro looked to his friends.

Karmi's eyes widened, "D'oh! I knew I forgot to mention something!"

She gestured to Astrid, "Everyone puts their names in the hat and taken out at random. Rivalry Week means a lot of roles need to be played. Every day, we need people watching the cafeteria in case SFAI tries to decorate it. We need people to intimidate SFAI, take over other tasks, you get the picture."

Then she smirked, "Freshmen have to do guard duty twice this week. No drawings, no tricks. You get partnered with whoever gets the short straw."

"Great," Hiro grumbled, "Twice the late nights outdoors."

"It's not that bad," Karmi shrugged, "My freshmen year, I got partnered with your brother."

Hiro couldn't believe his ears, "Really?!"

Karmi surprised him even further with a gentle smile, "He was really nice about the whole thing. He showed me how to make a few quick traps and we geeked over our projects."

Hiro returned the smile warmly, "He can get along with anyone."

"Yeah," Karmi nodded in agreement before she stopped herself and looked at Hiro as though she just realized who she was talking to. Hiro mirrored the expression and they turned their heads away and gagged in mutual disgust.

"Quiet in the back!" Astrid called out to them, "If you didn't put your name in the cap, this is your last chance!"

"What's going on here?" A new voice came from the door.

Astrid yelped and dropped the hat.

Professor Granville strode into the lab sternly, other students giving her a wide girth as she passed them. She was the new Dean of Students at the start of the semester, also fulfilling the role of teacher in at least one of Hiro's classes. The woman was certainly strict – and in some cases, a hard case – but there was no doubt that she was well intentioned. Right now, however, it seemed like an awful time to get on her bad side. As she made it to where Astrid stood, Hiccup suddenly spoke up.

"Don't worry, Astrid! I'll help you with your remote-controlled baseball project!"

Granville ignored Hiccup's lie and plucked the cap off the floor. She withdrew a slip from inside and looked at Astrid with a furrowed brow.

"Let me guess," she began coolly, "Instead of working on your projects and mid-terms, you have all decided to dedicate your energy towards our little competition with SFAI."

Astrid's shoulders slumped in defeat as she nodded. Granville turned around to face the rest of the students in the room. No one dared to draw a breath.

"As Dean of Students, I forbid this misuse of time..."

Honey Lemon let out a loud sigh of relief. Several people stared at her.

"...without explicit permission. Which you now haa~ve!" Granville trilled blissfully at the end. Cheers filled the air and someone threw their cat up a few times. Granville held a finger to her lips and the cheering stopped. She strode over to a small table towards the corner of the room and placed a narrow console on it. She tapped a button and the table suddenly showed a 3-D model of SFAI's campus where the statue was located.

"We strike TONIGHT!" Granville raised a finger to the sky. More cheering – and cat throwing, much to the animal's dismay – ensued before she continued, "We will unite as one and show SFAI our scientific wrath!" She brought her hand down at the last word and smashed the hologram model of Lenore Shimamoto into pixel pieces.

Astrid was calm, though she fought down a fierce grin, "Better get this over with then. Last call for slips! Anyone who doesn't put their name in gets volunteered to do it anyways."

"Right here," Hiro bustled over to the girl and dug into his pockets for a pen. Someone handed him a scrap of paper and it was shoved into the hat a few moments later.

"Alright, drum roll please."

Fred proceeded to rap Hiccup's head with a pair of pencils repeatedly until the other boy grabbed them out of his hands and snapped them, handing the pieces back to Fred.

"Our attack team will consist of...Jack...Go Go...Wasabi...Astrid - wait, that's me!...and Honey Lemon."

No one failed to notice how uncomfortable Honey Lemon had become.

"Friendly intimidation shall go to...Hiccup...Snoutlout...Fred - wait, you're not a student here!" Astrid looked at Fred sharply.

"I'm the mascot!" Fred protested. "Doesn't that count for something?"

Astrid considered this for a moment and grunted in agreement. She continued drawing names, "Okay...uh...Ferb...aaaand...Phineas!"

"Alright!" A red-haired teenager with a pointy nose high-fived the taller, green-hair teenager with a stout nose.

"Guard duty consists of...Karmi..."

Karmi pouted at this.

"...and Perry?..."

A platypus next to the red and green haired teenagers growled lazily.

Astrid looked at Hiro, "Alright, fresh meat. You're on guard duty too."

"Figures," Hiro rolled his eyes before he looked at Karmi with realization, "Oh..."

"Excellent!" Granville clasped her hands together with a smile before pointing to the newly formed attack team and Karmi and Hiro, "Both teams, meet me after classes. We will show SFAI what we are made of!"

Hiro gave Karmi one last look before gulping. Between last night and this evening, she was going to start thinking they were turning into a couple...

**(0-0)**

**Author's Note**: Setting up for the Statue Grab, showing that Tadashi's Chronic Hero Syndrome is catching up to him, Hiro shows he is still ruthless to those who piss him off royally and Jack is not Hiccup's side-rooster.

I apologize again for the long absence. Writer's block is killing me! Please review!


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